Open Fire
by Kimchi Cake
Summary: Shorts based around the Sawada family's life in Italy after the events of First Shot.
1. Chapter 1

"_Do you know Tsunayoshi Sawada?"_

Tsuna wasn't going to lie. His mama said lying was bad and he was a good boy. So he most definitely was not going to lie. Because good boys don't lie.

"No, sir."

Ah, he lied. Maybe he wasn't such a good boy after all. His mama would be sad when she found out.

Tsuna crinkled his little nose in thought before smiling- that is, if she found out. He wasn't going to tell her, and this man surely didn't know his mama, so there was no one to tell his mama that he lied and that he wasn't a good boy. There, problem solved.

"_Are you sure? He should be about your age and-_"

Well, mostly. There was the issue of the man talking to him in that funny language that his daddy always used when on the phone, and, to be honest, Tsuna really didn't like that language. He would say he hated it, but then his mama would scold him and say that he shouldn't hate anything. So he disliked it. A lot. Especially when he was forced to attend lessons to learn it.

"_-apan, just like you."_

And even more so when strangers kept trying to talk to him with it.

Tsuna frowned and looked up at the man whose shadow didn't match his height. It was going to be dark soon, and Tsuna was supposed to be inside before the lamps turned on. His frown deepened and he puffed out his cheeks at the man; he was going to get in trouble now because the man had stopped him. Just as Tsuna was about to apologize to the man and walk away, the man's hands latched under his armpits and jerked him off the ground.

Tsuna yelped in surprise as he was whisked further and further away from his family's yard. He tried to struggle, but all that got him a a quick thwack on the head and a snarled order from the man. He whimpered and sniffled as tears gathered in his eyes. He had been feeling bad all day with his stupid tummy ache and he was out past dark and his parents were going to scold him and now his head was hurting and he wanted his mama.

His quiet sniffles turned into hiccuping cries that escalated into full blown wails. The man carrying him growled out a word Tsuna knew only bad boys said and brought his fist down on Tsuna's head. The boy yelped when it jarred him into biting the tip of his tongue but quieted down his crying to soft whimpers and hiccups.

When he was thrown into the dark interior of a car, Tsuna finally realized what was happening. He clawed frantically at anything he could reach and was awarded with another smack, this one harder than any of the others before. He whined pitifully around the taste of blood and shuffled himself as far into the corner that the man's grip on his upper arm would allow.

The entire ride was filled with his muffled whimpers and the harsh barking of the man next to him, and when the car finally came to a stop, the man tightened his grip on Tsuna's arm and dragged him up the steps and into a lavish house. Tsuna sniffled as he was dragged down the halls and shoved into a room. He heard the click of the door's lock and sunk down to the floor. The only things in the room were a bed, a dresser, and a portrait of some old man in weird clothes on a horse hung up on the wall. Tsuna sniffed and pulled his legs up to his chest, curling in to himself as though he thought he could disappear and be back home with his mama and his daddy. The unsettling feeling in his stomach he had had all day abated some and Tsuna sighed in slight relief, pushing his sweaty forehead against his knees and closing his eyes. Maybe when he opened them, he'd be home.

But, sadly, that was not the case.

Tsuna woke up to the sound of a gun being fired. He jerked his head up in surprise and stared at the locked door in horror. More gunshots sounded in the house and Tsuna scrambled to his knees to crawl underneath the bed, just like his daddy told him to do when he heard guns. He pressed his tiny hands against his mouth to stifle his breathing and waited.

The door knob rattled, and Tsuna heard three voices talking in that language again in the hallway before the door was slammed open, the wood cracking and splintering before dropping to the floor. Tsuna jerked and clenched his eyes shut against the stinging burn of tears. He heard footsteps circle the room and bit back a whimper when something thudded not even three steps away from where he was hidden.

His heart beat picked up and Tsuna could just tell that they had found him. He squeezed his eyes shut tighter and heard someone sigh.

"Come here, Tsuna. Everything's okay now," a familiar voice murmured. Tsuna's eyes snapped open to see his daddy on his hands and knees with his face pressed against the floor boards looking at him with a small smile on his face. Tsuna shakily crawled out from under the bed with the soft encouragements of the man in front of him. When he finally made it out, he launched himself onto his father, sobbing quietly against his shoulder.

A warm hand rubbed soothing circles on his back as an arm wound around him and picked him up to settle him against his father's hip.

Tsuna didn't even realize when they exited the mansion and got into a car until his father buckled him up against the soft leather seats and handed him a phone.

"Your mama wants to talk to you," he said, his voice still soft as though he was talking to a startled animal. Tsuna gripped the phone and sobbed out a quiet, "Mama?"

"Oh, Tsu-kun," The sound of his mother's voice, teary and worried as it was, made his own sobs a little louder.

"I-I'm sorry I stayed out past dark," he whimpered, fat tears rolling down his cheeks and onto his lap.

"It's okay, baby. Mama can't wait until you and Daddy get home. Mama made you two pasta for dinner," she cooed, "Does that sound yummy?"

Tsuna sniffed and glanced at his father before nodding, whispering a quiet yes.

He talked to his mother the entire car ride with his daddy seated right next to him. Just like she had said, there was pasta ready to eat by the time they reached home, and the family ate their supper together for the first time in months. His father's shoulders were still tense, and his mother's smiles were a little forced, but they slowly relaxed when Tsuna stopped sniffling and all traces of his tears were gone.

That night, Tsuna slept in his parent's bed, wedged between them with his mama's arm around him and his father's arm around them both.

* * *

><p>Obviously, the way the Sawada family deals with traumatizing events is to act like nothing ever happened once the initial shock fades. Sounds like the best way to do it to me.<p>

This is unbeta'd so all mistakes are mine.


	2. Chapter 2

The first time Tsuna met his father's boss, he was eight years old and had been living in Italy for just under two years. After the first kidnapping, his father had decided that it would be imperative to move the family to a house closer to his work place so he could take preemptive measures against anything like that happening again, and if it did, he would be able to deal with it in a quick and efficient way that didn't leave Tsuna alone for hours.

Luckily, since that first time, there had been no successful attempts of kidnapping Tsuna or Nana. Or even any attempts that the two targeted knew about. Iemitsu had made sure of that.

So, after a year in a new home that was in the city instead of out in the hillsides, Iemitsu took his family to meet his boss. It was a rather informal meeting, happening in a cafe not far from the house during the hours between the lunch and dinner rushes, and they were guaranteed to be the only customers present in the dining area for the duration of their meal.

Honestly, Tsuna didn't find his father's boss to be very impressive, and it wasn't until Tsuna had made eye contact with the man did his impression change.

The man who had stood to greet them when they entered the building was wrinkled and gray headed, but was smiling warmly at them despite his entourage of men in uniform black suits who were guarding the restaurant both inside and out all seeming to have permanent scowls etched in to their faces like statues.

The man had shaken hands with his father and exchanged pleasantries with his mother before kneeling down in front of Tsuna and placing a hand on his shoulder. Tsuna watched the man in confusion, at a loss for what to do. He glanced at his parents for instruction only to see his mother smiling and his father watching them with a strange look in his eye that Tsuna had only seen once before. Tsuna swallowed nervously and adverted his gaze to the man in front of him, avoiding looking him in the eye, opting instead to stare at a scar on his cheek that Tsuna hadn't been able to see until it was right in front of him.

The old man smiled, "_Hello, Tsunayoshi. My name is Timoteo. It is nice to meet you."_ Tsuna nodded and replied back, grateful that the old man was using the simple phrases he had been made to study since moving to Europe.

"_Oh, you are rather good at Italian,"_ The old man complimented while standing up. It took Tsuna a while to comprehend the sentence and he blushed when he did, shaking his head. Timoteo laughed and guided the family to a table in the back corner opposite to the entrance that had men standing close by but not close enough to seem as though there was no privacy.

Tsuna hadn't been paying attention to what the adults were saying; he himself being much more interested in the strange ice cream his father had ordered for him from a trembling college student. Tsuna wondered if he was cold as he came back to collect his empty bowl. The old man had waved him away before focusing entirely on Tsuna.

With no strange ice cream to hide behind, Tsuna had had no choice but to meet his eyes for the first time since meeting him. They were a strange color, Tsuna had thought. A brownish green he had never seen before that seemed to glow as though he had a candle lighting them up from behind. They were fascinating, flickering with movement without actually moving a single centimeter from where they held his own gaze captive.

It had felt like they had been staring at eachother for years when Tsuna's mother chided him for staring and the old man leaned back, finally breaking contact to laugh and continue his conversation with Tsuna's parents.

Tsuna gulped and averted his eyes to the table, periodically glancing up to stare at the old man in awe and slight fear. The old man's eyes had to be magic. There was no other way to explain the flames that had danced in the man's pupils.

Little did Tsuna know that near identical flames of the same color in his own gaze responded to those in Timoteo's with a fierce will just waiting to be released.

I don't like this one. It was weird to write and weird to read back, and I just don't like it. I posted it anyway, though, because it has been over a month since my last post... Well, enough of that; thanks for reading!


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